There has been a good deal of interest in Bausch &;Lomb's waterproof Discoverer roof-prism series, especially as the Elites, while fine binoculars in most ways, conspicuously lack any sort of weatherproofing.
The 7X42 and 8X42 Discoverers are yet another example of a well designed housing wrapped around so-so optics. The body of the binoculars is heavily rubber armored with a particularly comfortable and relatively attractive coating, well contoured to fit average hands. B&L;has borrowed the pop-up eyecup idea from some of the premium European lines, and implemented it well. In fact, the whole physical unit is very similar to the Swarovski and Leica units of a similar size.
On the test bench and in the field, however, the optics, while certainly a very good example of their kind, are simply not up to the level of the premium roof prisms, or up to the level of the best $200 porros for that matter. The Discoverers display the slightly soft image that I am coming to associate with non-phase-coated roof prisms. When compared to phase-coated roofs, or to high quality porros, the image lacks just a bit of fine detail resolution, and a bit of contrast. It is also not quite as bright as you might expect from 7X42s.
I did say, however, that the Discoverers are a good example of their kind. Contrast is better than most other non-phase-coated roof prisms that I have tested, and resolution is certainly acceptable. Field of view is excellent. Eyerelief is so long that I had to wrap rubber bands around the pop-up cups to keep them only partly collapsed. The view is very easy and natural and the binoculars are balanced well enough to make them quite steady in the hands. Without direct comparison to optically superior systems, many birders would be completely satisfied with the Discoverer's performance. If your primary need is for waterproof binoculars (after our move to the coast of Maine I can certainly understand that need much better than I did living and birding in New Mexico), and if the Bausch and Lombs fit your budget better than, say, the Swarovskis, then I would have no problem recommending the Discoverers.
